Perhaps a blowout win that shoved the seven absent players from top of mind to the back corner of it created a heightened sense of confidence.
Too high a sense.
That confidence lasted until Tuesday, not 48 hours removed from Notre Dame’s 52-0 dismantling of South Florida, when the balloon popped.
Poof.
What happened next was a swerve off the express lanes and into traffic jam 29 other teams had already encountered. Director of athletics Jack Swarbrick may have been the only person that was not surprised.
“We have to manage expectations,” he cautioned last week on a Packer & Durham appearance. “We’re going to have games canceled, have interruptions.”
Two games in, Notre Dame encountered what it hopes is the only one it faces. Saturday’s game at Wake Forest was postponed when the football team revealed it had seven new COVID-19 cases pop up in Monday’s testing, sending the total number of players in COVID protocols to 23 — and counting — with 13 in isolation due to positive tests and 10 in quarantine due to contact tracing.
Notre Dame football activities have been postponed until further testing, which is expected Wednesday. Another round of tests is the first of a few next steps.
